How To Count in Egyptian Arabic

Knowing how to count in Egyptian Arabic is essential.

And with the different Arabic dialects, it can be a bit tricky knowing the proper pronunciation.

Today should help you out.

Today, Cleo Lingo will be explaining…how to count in Egyptian Arabic.

How to Count From 0 to 10

1. : WAWhhid.

.واحد

2. : ihTNANE.

.اتنين

3. : tihLEHtuh

.تلاتة

4. : areBAW’uh

.اربعة

5. : KHUMsuh

.خمسة

6. : SIHtuh

.ستة

7. : SEHbaw’aw

.سبعة

8. : tihMAWneeuh.

.تمانية

9. : TEHsaw’aw.

.تسعة

10. : ‘AWshuhruh

.عشرة

The numbers from 1 to 10 take the gender of the following word (feminine or masculine).

Numbers above 10 stay the same no matter what.

I have one sister. : Ana ‘AWNdee OHKHT WAWhihduh.

.انا عندي اخت واحدة

I have one brother. : Ana ‘AWNdee OHKH WAWhid.

.انا عندي اخ واحد

How to Count From 11 to 20

As simple as it gets. Just add the word “Ten” “عشر” after the number.

This comes directly from the Formal Arabic way to say numbers – but while making it Egyptian Arabic, the word  عشر lost the ع  and it became اشر.

Notice that the “Taa” (Tamarbouta) in the number becomes a normal “Taa” when the word is attached to the word “ushar”.

Example 

5= ٥ = خمسة

15= ١٥

= خمسة + اشر = خمستاشر

11. : huhDAWshr.

.حداشر

12. : ehTNAWshr.

.اتناشر

13. : TEHluhTAWshr.

.تلاتاشر

14. : AreBAW’uhTAWshr.

.اربعتاشر

15. : KHUMuhSTAWshr.

.خمستاشر

16. : sihTAWshr.

.ستاشر

17. : SEHbaw’TAWshr.

.سبعتاشر

18. : TAWminTAWshr.

.تمنتاشر

19. : TEHsaw’TAWshr.

.تسعتاشر

20. : ‘ehSHREEN.

.عشرين

They have 15 employees at the company. : ‘AwnDAWhome KHUHmihSTAWshr mooAWzuff fee elSHEHrihkuh.

.عندهم خمستاشر موظف في الشركة

I saw 21 movies last year. : Ana SHOOFT WAWhid w ‘ehSHREEN FEELM elSEHnit elee FEHtit.

.انا شفت واحد وعشرين فيلم السنة اللي فاتت

Counting From 20 to 90 

This is also pretty straight forward, just add the suffix “EEn” to the end of the word after removing the Taa marbota from the number.

٧ = سبعة

٧٠ = سبع + ين= سبعين

30. : TEHluhTEEN.

.تلاتين

40. : AREbaw’EEN.

.اربعين

50. : KhumSEEN.

.خمسين

60. : SehTEEN.

.ستين

70. : SEHbaw’EEN.

.سبعين

80. : TEHmawNEEN.

.تمانين

90. : TEHsaw’EEN.

.تسعين

100. : MEEuh.

.مية

Just give me one hundred dollars, ok? : ihDEEnee MEEuh dohLAWR, MEHshee?

اديني مية دولار, ماشي؟

200. : meeTANE.

.ميتين

500. : KHUMsooMAYuh.

.خمسمية

1,000. : ALF.

.الف

There are one thousand students at my school. : Fee ALF TAWlib fee muhDREHsuhtee.

.في الف طالب في مدرستي

10,000. : ‘AWshrtuhLEHF.

.عشرتالاف

100,000. : MEEuhALF.

.مية الف

1,000,000. : MilYONE.

.مليون

5,000,000. : KHUHMsuh millYONE.

.خمسة مليون

Egypt has  100,000,000 pepole.: MUHsrr FEEhaw MEETmillYONE SHUKHSS.

.مصر فيها ١٠٠ مليون شخص

General: hundreds, thousands, millions. : meeYEHT / elwuhFEHT / MILLawEEN.

.ميات ..الوفات…ملايين

I saw thousands of people downtown. : Ana SHOOFT elwuhFEHT men elNESS fee WEST elBEHlid.

.انا شفت الوفات من الناس في وسط البلد

Millions of people went to the square (to protest). : miLAWeen NEZloo elmeeDEHN.

.ملايين نزلو الميدان

Cultural Insight

There is no specific number that is considered unlucky or lucky in the Egyptian culture, (other than 13 which was taken from the western culture), buthere is a cool famous song by Mohamed Ramadan that is called “Number One”. Check it out!

I don’t know why, but when Egyptians tell their phone number, they use the Arabic numbers for all the numbers, except for 0. For that they use it in English.

Example: here is my number call me! 0 100 14 78 901

ده رقمي ..كلمني

زيرو مية واحد اربعة سبعة تمانية تسعة زيرو واحد

Let’s see if you can understand this! 🙂

Happy learning,

Cleo Lingo